The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Surgical procedures can be performed on anatomies such as the human anatomy for providing a therapy to the anatomy. One area of surgery includes procedures performed on facial cavities of a patient such as on the ear, nose or throat (ENT). In such a procedure, a working member such as a shaver, bur, or other tool connected to an instrument (e.g., a handpiece) may be inserted into such a cavity to perform a shaping procedure for example. As it is desirable to minimize trauma produced by such procedures, it is favorable to avoid any supplemental incisions or other axis portals to be formed in the patient tissue.
Because the viewing angle of a surgeon at the area of interest can be obscured by the surrounding tissue of the cavity, the ability of a surgeon to effectively apply a therapy can be reduced. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a mechanism so that a surgeon can provide a therapy without minimization or reduction of effectiveness of the procedure or in viewing the area to apply the therapy. Navigation of instruments relative to the anatomy can be used.
In some navigation systems, instruments are provided with tracking devices. Sometimes however such tracking devices can be difficult to manipulate or cumbersome to the instrument. In other instances, the tracking devices can protrude a significant distance from the instrument and interfere with a surgeon's sight line. Other tracking devices fail to provide accurate positional information in 3-dimensional space or may be susceptible to electromagnetic interference because of metal objects.